Swimming and marching band?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have a high school kids who is a serious swimmer (6+ practices a week) and who also participates in marching band? Is this actually doable, or do the activities conflict too much?

[Anonymous]

My kid is not a swimmer but does marching band. I think if your swimmer's practices are in the morning, it's fine. But right now marching band is practicing every day after school for a couple hours, sometimes right after school, sometimes later in the evening. All practices are mandatory. So, if your swim practices are after school, they would need to be flexible on the timing. And no Fridays because that's football game time. And there are a few all-day Saturday competitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is not a swimmer but does marching band. I think if your swimmer's practices are in the morning, it's fine. But right now marching band is practicing every day after school for a couple hours, sometimes right after school, sometimes later in the evening. All practices are mandatory. So, if your swim practices are after school, they would need to be flexible on the timing. And no Fridays because that's football game time. And there are a few all-day Saturday competitions.

Also, be aware marching band starts in early August, several weeks before school starts, and runs until early November.

[Anonymous]

Mom of a current college swimmer who loved band in MS. Nope. You could perhaps do it if you’re willing to miss some swimming in the fall. But you swimming will have to take backseat during Football season.

[Anonymous]

Depends on when the high school swim season is for your kid. Fall or Winter. If Winter you could do it, but Fall really is not workable if the Band practices more than just during school hours. Some schools - marching band is not that big a deal and you would be fine. Other schools - marching band is a big deal -- competitions et al. And, that is the activity that the kids who are in the band do. Once "marching season" is over then you are good. For a band that does not do competitions the marching season will end when football season ends. Otherwise it is early November.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the replies. To clarify, I’m not talking about HS swim team, but year round club swimming.

[Anonymous]

How much schoolwork does your kid have? if they have to go to bed early for swim and have band practice after school, it does not leave time for much else which could be rough if the kid has hours of homework each night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much schoolwork does your kid have? if they have to go to bed early for swim and have band practice after school, it does not leave time for much else which could be rough if the kid has hours of homework each night.

This- if they have honors or Aps. Too much stress

[Anonymous]

What HS? Some highschools in this area don't even have a marching band. It doesn't seem like a big deal around here.

OP, tell us what HS and maybe people will have some specific intel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much schoolwork does your kid have? if they have to go to bed early for swim and have band practice after school, it does not leave time for much else which could be rough if the kid has hours of homework each night.

Well, he’s still in 8th grade, so not tons of homework yet. Would be one of the APS high schools.

[Anonymous]

At our school, swim doesn’t start till November so it is possible but still a lot.

[Anonymous]

Club swim parent here. What about weekend practices? Are your football games on Saturdays? Then there are meets. No way my swimmer could handle that on the swim schedule alone, nevermind dryland.

[Anonymous]

My kid plans to. Swim will be the priority but will miss some swim for band. Will do one band practice, and skip one. But, they already miss swim for another music commitment.

[Anonymous]

Ds is a year round swimmer and has been for years. She is not crazy competitive with her times though.

She made it work by treading water with swimming for the fall - 2 or 3 practices a week including 1 on Sunday. She saw the impact in her swim but that is all she could swing given band timing. But band is done by early Nov. If she had less school work she could have done more AM swims but we decided this was what was feasible to still allow enough sleep during the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid plans to. Swim will be the priority but will miss some swim for band. Will do one band practice, and skip one. But, they already miss swim for another music commitment.

You can’t consistently miss marching band. That screws up the other kids because of the spacing on the field. If you do marching band you need to plan to be there each time as the default (barring illness or something truly unavoidable)